Wilmington, NC News

Archive for February, 2012

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — The City of Wilmington voted last night to officially start talkin’ baseball with the Atlanta Braves and Mandalay Baseball Properties.

The city is not the only one stepping up to the plate when it comes to embracing the construction of a new baseball stadium downtown. Today, the developer met with the Wilmington Area Hospitality Association to discuss his plans, which he says will change the city.

In front of dozens of hotel and tourism professionals, Chuck Schoninger made his pitch for his north downtown development, which includes a baseball stadium.

“With bringing people down here it allows our restaurants to have a better chance at success, our hotels and everything else that we have downtown there available,” Schoninger said.

But Schoninger says the stadium is just one feature of his development. Work is already underway on a marina, and construction of a Hotel Indigo should start soon.

But what if the city or tax payers don’t end up building the stadium? Schoninger admits he does not have a back up plan to financially support the stadium with private funds.

Despite the uncertain future of a baseball stadium, the developer says he’ll continue to build. He says Wilmington has a need for multi-use buildings and a hotel.

Wilmington Downtown Inc.’s John Hinnant also presented alongside Schoninger. Hinnant said the ballpark is an investment that citizens should think about.

“If we as citizens want a thriving, growing, prosperous community, then we, all of us, must have skin in the game,” Hinnant said. “This is an opportunity for us to spur significant economic development.”

FORT FISHER, NC (WWAY) — The state of North Carolina owns a zoo and three aquariums, including the one at Fort Fisher. That could change based on a recommendation coming next week.

The state will make a recommendation on whether to privatize the aquariums and zoo. So we wanted to know what would that mean for the NC Aquarium at Fort Fisher?

“The aquariums have been here for 35 years, and we’re not going anywhere,” Fort Fisher Aquarium Director Peggy Sloan said.

Sloan says the state Program Evaluation Division’s decision could mean change for the aquarium, but none she thinks visitors would notice. NC Zoo director David Jones says whatever happens, don’t call it privatization.

“Nobody is going to give you anything for a business that loses $10 million a year,” Jones said. “No one is going to privatize if the business is not able to generate an income.”

Jones says the way he sees it, the change would be a public-private partnership. The state would still own the property, but a non-profit would be responsible for the upkeep.

“They would be responsible for the governance and the running of the operation and, of course, also raising additional private funding,” Jones said.

Sloan says the non-profit North Carolina Aquarium Society already helps finance a lot of the programs at the aquarium. She says if the group partnered with the state, it would be like a “family-owned” business.

“All of our members belong to the Aquarium Society,” Sloan said. “If they were to take over governance of our organization, that would mean our members are operating the aquariums.”

A recommendation is expected Tuesday. Once a recommendation is made, the state legislature would have to discuss it, possibly during its short session in May.